Engineering

Raymond M. Wright, Dean

George E. Veyera, Associate Dean

URI Engineering’s Mission

The College of Engineering (COE) is a diverse community of scholars, learners, and professional staff dedicated to the development and application of advanced technologies, and working together to enhance the quality of life for all. We are creative problem solvers, innovators, inventors, and entrepreneurs, applying our skills for the advancement of knowledge, service to our community, and the economic development of the state of Rhode Island and beyond. We prepare our graduates to be global leaders in a wide range of engineering disciplines and to create new knowledge, products, and services.

In case of discrepancies between this Catalog and the departmental materials, this URI Catalog is considered definitive. Departmental websites and departmental curricular and course materials are maintained independently and do not necessarily reflect University-approved curricular and course information.

Expected Student Outcomes

The College of Engineering offers undergraduate majors in biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, industrial and systems, mechanical, and ocean engineering. Because the same fundamental concepts underlie all branches of engineering, freshman-year courses are similar for all curricula, and the choice of a specific engineering major may be delayed until the beginning of either the second term or the second year of study. All of the engineering curricula are based on an intense study of mathematics and the basic sciences supporting the fundamentals of each engineering discipline. These principles are applied to the understanding and solution of problems of current interest and importance in the field. Each curriculum is designed to provide the knowledge and ability necessary for practice as a professional engineer, or for successful graduate study, which may include law, business administration, or medicine, as well as engineering and science disciplines.

Engineers from all fields are heavily involved in the solution of technological and socio-technological problems; industry’s needs are for balanced teams of both men and women from different engineering areas. Therefore, the college’s goal is to stimulate our students to become creative, responsible engineers, aware of the social implications of their work, and flexible enough to adjust to the rapid changes taking place in the world and, consequently, in all branches of engineering.

a. an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering
b. an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data
c. an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability
d. an ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams
e. an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems
f. an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility
g. an ability to communicate effectively
h. the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context
i. a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in, life-long learning
j. a knowledge of contemporary issues
k. an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.

Outcomes l-p are specific to the Ocean Engineering program.

l. knowledge and the skills to apply the principles of fluid and solid mechanics, dynamics, hydrostatics, probability and applied statistics to engineering problems,
m. knowledge and the skills to apply the principles of oceanography, water waves, and underwater acoustics to engineering problems,
n. the ability to work in groups to perform engineering design at the system level, integrating multiple technical areas and addressing design optimization.
o. an appreciation of diversity in the engineering workplace
p. participation of 20% of the Ocean Engineering BS students in the International Engineering Program (IEP) (Chinese, German, French, Italian, and Spanish)

Expected Student Outcomes for the biomedical engineering program

To Understand – to understand the mathematical and physical foundations of biomedical engineering and how these are applied to the design of biomedical instruments, the analysis of biological systems, and the technological advancement for health care. An understanding that engineering knowledge should be applied in an ethically responsible manner for the good of society.To Question – to critically evaluate alternate assumptions, approaches, procedures, tradeoffs, and results related to engineering and biological problems.To Design – to design a variety of electronic and/or computer-based devices and software for applications including biomedical instrumentation, medical imaging, physiological measurement, biomedical signal processing, rehabilitation engineering and medical informatics.To Lead – to lead a small team of student engineers performing a laboratory exercise or design project; to participate in the various roles in a team and understand how they contribute to accomplishing the task at hand.To Communicate – to use written and oral communications to document work and present project results.

Expected Student Outcomes for the computer engineering program

To Understand – to understand fundamentals of computer hardware and software, electronics, electronic design automation, and mathematics, and how these are used in computers and computer-based systems. An understanding that engineering knowledge should be applied in an ethically responsible manner for the good of society.To Question – to critically evaluate alternate assumptions, approaches, procedures, tradeoffs, and results related to engineering problems.To Design – to design and implement a computer system including processor, memory and I/O system, compiler, operating system, and local area network interface.To Lead – to lead a small team of student engineers performing a laboratory exercise or design project; to participate in the various roles in a team and understand how they contribute to accomplishing the task at hand.To Communicate – to use written and oral communications to document work and present project results.

Expected Student Outcomes for the electrical engineering program

To Understand – to understand the mathematical and physical foundations of electrical engineering and how these are used in electronic devices and systems. An understanding that engineering knowledge should be applied in an ethically responsible manner for the good of society.To Question – to critically evaluate alternate assumptions, approaches, procedures, tradeoffs, and results related to engineering problems.To Design – to design a variety of electronic and/or computer-based components and systems for applications including signal processing, communications, computer networks, and control systems.To Lead – to lead a small team of student engineers performing a laboratory exercise or design project; to participate in the various roles in a team and understand how they contribute to accomplishing the task at hand.To Communicate – to use written and oral communications to document work and present project results

Curriculum Requirements

Entering engineering students who have chosen a specific major should follow the particular program listed in this section. It is recommended that those students who have decided to major in engineering, but have not selected a specific major take the following courses: CHM 101/102; EGR 105; MTH 141; PHY 203/273; and a general education requirement during their first semester. Students who are still undecided about their choice of major after completing the first semester should review their second semester courses with their engineering advisor to be certain that they meet the prerequisites for the sophomore year.

Students who are undecided about engineering as a major, but wish to keep it open as an option, should note that CHM 101/102; EGR 105, 106; MTH 141, 142; and PHY 203/273, 204/274 are required for graduation by the College of Engineering (COE), and are prerequisites for many engineering courses. These individuals need to meet with the Wanting Engineering (WEGR) advisor, and review relevant information regarding WEGR below.

Admission to the College of Engineering. To be admitted to the COE, students must complete at least 24 credits (including transfer credits) with a grade point average of 2.00 or better, and must also complete the following required courses with a grade point average of 2.00 or better and a grade of “C-“ or better in each course: CHM 101/102; EGR 105, 106; MTH 141, 142; PHY 203/273; and either PHY 204/274 or CHM 112/114.

Enrollment in Engineering Courses. Enrollment in 200-level College of Engineering courses is restricted to engineering majors. Exceptions can be made by permission of the department chair. Enrollment in 300-level and above College of Engineering courses is restricted to students who have been admitted to a degree granting college.

Graduation Requirements. To meet graduation requirements, students enrolled in the COE must satisfactorily complete all courses of the degree program in which they are enrolled and obtain a grade point average of 2.00 or better in all required science, mathematics, and engineering courses (including professional electives). Students are also required to complete a degree audit and an exit interview with the associate dean at least one semester prior to their anticipated graduation date. At the discretion of the dean, students who do not demonstrate satisfactory progress may be required to leave the COE.

Student Advisement. Engineering students are advised by engineering faculty members in their degree program. While the student is in University College for Academic Success (UCAS), advising takes place at UCAS; once the student is transferred to the COE, advising takes place at the departmental level. The office of the Associate Dean of Engineering only provides non-routine advising.

General Education Requirements. All COE undergraduates must meet the breadth, depth, and flexibility requirements for general education courses as specified below. Students must refer to their specific engineering major for additional requirements, which vary by program. For a list of general education courses, see General Education Requirements.

(a) General Education Breadth Requirement. All engineering students must take at least three credits in each of the seven general education categories specified by the University (minimum of 21 credits), as noted below:

English Communications [EC/ECw]—one WRT course is required; only one of the following courses is allowed for general education credit: WRT 104, or 106; Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning [MQ]—satisfied by MTH 141; Fine Arts and Literature (A); Foreign Language and Cross-Cultural Competence [FC]; Letters [L]; Natural Science [N]—satisfied by CHM 101; Social Science [S]—satisfied by ECN 201.

(b) General Education Depth Requirement. All engineering students must take at least three additional credits in each of three different general education categories specified by the University (at least nine credits).

English Communications [EC/ECw]—only one of the following writing courses is allowed for general education credit: WRT 104, or 106; Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning [MQ]—satisfied by MTH 142; Fine Arts and Literature [A]; Foreign Language and Cross-Cultural Competence [FC]; Letters [L]; Natural Science [N]—satisfied by additional required courses; Social Science [S].

(c) General Education Flexibility Requirement. Students must refer to their engineering major for any additional specific courses needed to satisfy the remaining General Education requirement(s).

Wanting Engineering. Based on background and interests, students are provided with the opportunity to explore engineering as a potential major by taking required fundamental core courses in engineering, mathematics, and science. These students are designated as “Wanting Engineering (WEGR)”, which is not an engineering major, during this exploratory period. To become an engineering major, WEGR students must have an overall grade point average of 2.00 or better, and complete (including transfer credits) the following required courses with a grade point average of 2.00 or better and a grade of “C-“ or better in each course: MTH 141, CHM 101, 102, PHY 203, 273, and EGR 105, within 3 (three) semesters, under the guidance of the WEGR advisor.Note: Some WEGR students are typically not ready to begin in the first required calculus course, MTH 141. As such, these WEGR students should expect a five-year plan for graduation based on the various engineering curricula requirements. The WEGR advisor will review this and the options with each WEGR student.

Computational Facilities

The Engineering Computer Center (ECC), located in the Chester H. Kirk Center for Advanced Technology, supports the teaching and research activities of the College of Engineering. The ECC has one dual eight-core and two dual quad-core processor Dell PowerEdge servers providing centralized services for PC file and print sharing, license serving, email, and web applications. Both wireless and cabled network access are available. Students are assigned COE computer accounts and use these accounts until they graduate. Student accounts are accessible from all of the ECC and COE department computer classrooms. Email accounts are provided for COE faculty and staff.

There are 132 networked PCs available at the ECC for student use. These are incorporated into three classrooms with projection systems, a main student work area, and two side project/study rooms. Also provided are three scanners, four black and white laser printers, a color laser printer, and three large format inkjet plotters, one specifically for CAD drawings and one for final presentation quality posters. Areas are available for students to set up their own laptops for access to software, printers, and the network. Available installed software includes Abaqus, Aspen, AutoCAD, Bentley, Comsol, EES, LabView, Mathematica, MatLab, Microsoft Visual Studio, Minitab, Multisim, SolidWorks, and Working Model. The ECBE Linux distribution is also available as a dual boot option on all machines.

In addition to providing the computer technologies that engineering students rely on for their course work, the ECC provides faculty members with the resources necessary for their teaching and research commitments, through the use of network services, interactive multimedia classrooms, and the expertise of the ECC staff in identifying and procuring hardware and software.

The Discovery Center is a state-of-the-art multimedia computer classroom with dual-monitor PCs for 30 students; an instructor podium with tablet monitors and the ability to interact with any of the student PCs; eight wide-screen, flat-panel TV monitors; and two large screen projectors. The Discovery Center is heavily used for our introductory freshman engineering classes, where students are introduced to the College of Engineering, engineering career paths, engineering problem solving, teamwork, hands-on projects, and software with applications used in other engineering classes. The Discovery Center is also used by other engineering classes and is available to all engineering students for general use during the evenings and in between classes.

A second 32-seat classroom located near the main ECC facility contains state-of-the-art equipment to handle the increased demand for engineering multimedia instructional capabilities. Managed by the ECC staff, this classroom is available for classes, seminars, lectures, and lab sessions.

In the Department of Chemical Engineering computing room ten PCs with specialized software packages such as Aspen, a Chemical Engineering Design Process Simulator, FACTORY FLOOR, a process control program, MatLab, and Polymath are available for undergraduate teaching and research.

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has two computational facilities. The CADD Laboratory contains 30 state-of-the-art PCs, one network printer; and a direct projection multimedia system. Available software includes AutoCAD Civil3D, the Bentley Suite with over 50 engineering software packages (including Inroads, Leap, Microstation, RAM, SewerCAD, STAAD, WaterCAD, etc.); ANSYS, HCS, Maple, MatLab, Mathematica, MicroPAVER, MS Office, and others. Modern geomatics and surveying equipment (funded by the Champlin Foundations) including electronic Total Station and GPS for field data acquisition are linked to the CADD lab PCs, printers, and plotters for GIS representation and analysis. The senior Capstone Design Project Studio has six PCs, a reference library, and a direct projection multimedia system, used by the design teams during the integrated capstone design project.

The Department of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering has numerous multiprocessor Linux servers. The primary servers feature hardware RAID and fiberoptic gigabit network connections. The main computing lab hosts 14 general use, dual-monitor Linux workstations, which are available 24 hours a day to all students in the department. In addition, there are approximately 50 Linux workstations and 40 Windows systems dispersed throughout laboratories and offices. Available software includes MatLab for signal processing, HSPICE for analog circuit simulation, Quartus for FPGA simulation and design, as well as thousands of open-source applications. Numerous laser printers are available, including duplex (two-sided) and color variants. Wireless network access is available throughout the department.

The Department of Mechanical, Industrial, and Systems Engineering has two computer classrooms. The Wales Hall computer classroom includes 25 workstations and two high-speed laser printers. The Gilbreth Hall computer classroom includes 13 workstations and two laser printers. Both classrooms are equipped with projection systems for classroom and seminar presentations. Application software includes SolidWorks, Working Model, MatLab, Abaqus, Algor, Excel, Comsol, Gams, Lingo, Maple, Mathematica, Mintab, Engineering Equation Solver, Compact 2-D (CFD), and others. In addition, department laboratories are equipped with a variety of computers for computational modeling studies, high-speed data acquisition, and control of mechanical devices.

The Department of Ocean Engineering has a newly designed Ocean Project Center at the Narragansett Bay Campus to support both their education and research programs. The Ocean Project Center is open to all undergraduate and graduate students in Ocean Engineering and is equipped with dual screens and two laser printers. Available software includes: MatLab, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, LaTeX, Scientific Word, Netscape/Explorer, LabView, and SolidWorks. The Ocean Project Center also has computer and conference tables, and whiteboards for collaborative efforts, student group learning, and individual assignments. WiFi is also available.

Minors, Double Majors, and Graduate Degrees

Minors and Double Majors. Students wanting to obtain strengths in other areas of academic specialization while in engineering are encouraged to do so by completing either a minor (see “Minor Fields of Study”) or double major. Some of the COE degree programs also offer minors. For details, see degree programs described in the following sections.

Nuclear Engineering Minor. The COE offers a minor in nuclear engineering to qualified students who are matriculated in the COE. Students declaring this minor must complete a minimum of 18 credits consisting of four required courses (12 credits) and two supporting courses (6 credits). Additional information can be found at egr.uri.edu/nuclear-engineering-minor/.

International Engineering Program (IEP). In conjunction with the College of Arts and Sciences, the COE offers a five-year program in which students earn two degrees: a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in engineering and a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in a foreign language. The foreign languages currently offered by the IEP are Chinese, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. Students also spend six months abroad in a paid professional internship working at an international engineering company in Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, or Asia. Upon graduation, students are well prepared to compete in the global marketplace and are highly sought after by employers both in the U.S. and abroad. Interested students should contact the IEP director at the IEP House on Upper College Road, or the associate dean of the COE, Dean’s Office, 102 Bliss Hall. The IEP has been recognized for excellence in international engineering education and received the Award for Educational Innovation from ABET, Inc.

Accelerated Five-Year B.S./M.S. Degree Programs. The COE offers accelerated five-year B.S./M.S. degree programs in all engineering majors. These programs allow qualified students to complete both the B.S. and M.S. degrees within five years. Specific requirements vary by major. Please refer to program details in this catalog, including department requirements listed by individual major and links to department websites for further information.

Engineering and Political Science Program. Students completing both the B.A. degree in political science and the B.S. degree in engineering at the same time may use courses in the political science major to satisfy Basic Liberal Studies requirements for the Bachelor of Arts. The College of Engineering and the Department of Political Science have established a curriculum that allows for the completion of the two degrees and a public-sector internship in five years.

Engineering and M.B.A. Program. This five-year program offers students the opportunity to earn a B.S. degree in engineering and a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.). Students with a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or better may enroll during their senior year with successful completion of the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT).

Engineering and M.O. Program. The fifth-year Master of Oceanography (M.O.) program is designed for URI students who want to enter GSO’s M.O. program while still an undergraduate and complete the degree in the year following completion of the B.S. The program is open to qualified URI undergraduates in the natural sciences or engineering. Eligibility and program requirements can be found in the “Graduate Programs” section of this catalog.

Graduate Degrees. Graduate study is available in the COE at the Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctorate (Ph.D.) level. For a listing of advanced degrees, see the “Graduate Programs” section of this catalog.

OFFER YOUR FEEDBACK

• in a description of an undergraduate or graduate program of study, as it existed on July 1, 2014, contact the Dean’s Office for that program (College or Graduate School).

• in a course description, as it existed on July 1, 2014, email the discrepancy along with a copy of or a link to the approved legislation proving the error to urifacsen@gmail.com. Approved bills can be found on the Faculty Senate site.

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NOTICE OF CHANGE

Rules, regulations, dates, tuition, fees, personnel including faculty, the availability and titles of academic programs and areas of specialization, their administrative location, and courses set forth in this catalog are subject to change without notice. Where a change in program requirements is made while a student is enrolled, the student may elect to complete the program under the requirements in effect at the time of matriculation or to shift entirely to the new requirements, but may not choose parts of each set. As a result of the ongoing reviews of all programs, certain offerings and specializations may be deleted or restructured between editions of this catalog.

TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT

In case of discrepancies between this Catalog and the departmental materials, this URI Catalog is considered definitive.
Departmental websites and departmental curricular and course materials are maintained independently and do not necessarily reflect University-approved curricular and course information.